Tully: For Indy to prosper, city needs all-out assault on crime

Mar. 6, 2014

Kelly Wilkinson/The Star file photo

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Mayor Greg Ballard and his staff have come up with a great plan: rebuild the cityís budget by rebuilding its tax base with thousands of new residents. The idea is to convince 50,000 people who make decent wages to choose Indianapolis in the coming years over all those suburbs that offer lower taxes, safer streets and, in many cases, better schools.

Itís a great goal, and Indianapolis definitely would be served well by a fight to keep more of the people with means who so often put up a real estate sign when itís time to start a family or send a child to school. And it is based on something Indianapolis leaders should obsessively focus on: the need to retain and attract middle-class families.

If they can do that ó and talk about a monster objective ó just about everything else will fall into place. The money to repair roads, hire police and fund social programs will be more plentiful. Neighborhoods and schools will organically improve. Businesses that too often choose to move across the county line will have incentives to stay in Indy, as more customers and employees will be here. And the stronger Indianapolis is, the stronger the suburbs will be.

In his recent State of the City address, Ballard noted that he has ďassembled the leaders of many community organizations and asked them to build a strategy that promotes all that Indy has to offer.Ē After all, he added, ďIndianapolis offers every type of living a person could want, and it is time more people know about it.Ē

His staff has worked hard for several months now to create a serious plan to build the residential base, which is crucial now that new state laws have left cities more reliant than ever on the income taxes paid by residents. Theyíve centered the plan on schools, smarter planning and safety improvements. Theyíve also adopted a smart philosophy that salespeople have always relied on: You have to at least let your customers know that you want their business.

The cityís need for more residents with healthy incomes was at the center of the recent debate over an upscale residential project at the Market Square Arena site, and it will be the cornerstone of many similar debates to come.

In recent months, a series of horrific home invasions told many people that they were not safe even in their own homes. So often in recent years, violence has erupted on nice summer nights while visitors filled our prized Downtown streets. Last year, the cityís homicide rate skyrocketed.

Itís important to note that the cityís overall crime rate has improved of late. Many categories of crime saw reductions last year. But clearly this city still suffers from a crime crisis, and from deep-seated social problems, that are devastating many neighborhoods and putting even more on edge.

Realtors say that when it comes to buying a house the most important feature is location. Well, another crucial feature is perception. Until more people with options perceive this city as a safe place to raise a family, the longstanding trend of urban flight will continue.

And letís not make this political. The cityís crime problems far pre-date the Ballard administration, and his public safety director, Troy Riggs, is perhaps the most thoughtful public safety leader in this city in decades. More than any leader Iíve seen, Riggs understands that the solutions to Indianapolisí crime problems are tied to education, parenting and other social issues. He understands that the way out of this problem is by rallying the community to make it the cause of a generation.

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As a resident of Indianapolis, Iím deeply concerned about the cityís crime problem. But Iím also more optimistic in many ways than Iíve been in years, in part because a new generation of leaders is offering a tremendous amount of smart big-picture thinking. (People like Michael Huber at the Indy Chamber, Adam Thies in the mayorís Department of Metropolitan Development, City-County Council members John Barth and Maggie Lewis, Womenís Fund of Central Indiana Executive Director Jennifer Pope Baker, and the crusading, crime-fighting Rev. Charles Harrison, to name a few.)

Despite that optimism, massive problems remain, and neighborhoods that have struggled for decades will not be filled with families from Hamilton or Johnson counties without dramatic reductions in crime ó reductions, by the way, that are only the first step toward reducing flight.

Indianapolis has a real crime problem, and it must be addressed more aggressively and holistically than ever. Although the scope of the crime problem has been exaggerated at times, the reality is that many people donít consider the city a safe place to live.

And you canít blame them.

Until that perception changes, the residential tax base wonít recover.

So hereís an idea: Letís make it the goal of this generation of residents to attack the issues at the heart of our cityís crime problems. It might sound trite. But thatís what it will take to attract and keep more middle- and upper-income residents.